Yes, I know that the same happens with D&D, I am a BG2 fan.

 

My main point is that a few levels in that system don't make as huge of a difference as they make in PoE. That's because your stats might increase, but you were still dead meat in difficult fights unless you pre-buffed. The default increase in stats was not very significant. That system required from you to master it, power was not cheap.

 

In contrast, PoE requires much less. When I go somewhere and have trouble, I know that if I come back 2 levels later I am going to roll like a boss even if I haven't chosen any particularly overpowered abilities in the meantime. This didn't happen in BG2, at least it didn't happen very often. In PoE it happens all the time.

 

I 'd be interested to see the results you are mentioning, but I don't see how they might explain the vast difference in power a couple of levels give in PoE automatically.

 

I like PoE, but oh boy is it not disappointing in some aspects. I am currently doing my first PotD playthrough (base game, patch 3); I am level 9 and I 've never had to use any food. I have only used potions a couple of times (and I could probably have avoided them completely). I am playing the hardest difficulty of the game, and all I have to do really is choose the order in which I confront each challenge, because difficulty is too much dependent on player level.

Indeed, PoE levels matter more than D&D levels but that's because you gain too much, not because you gain tout court

 

Matt's analysis explained why there are so many levels between completionist and non-completionist runs in PoE, whereas that was not the case in I.E. games.